Speldhurst Parish

A View of the Parish

Speldhurst is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of South Malling. The church is named for St. Mary with registers commencing 1538.

Speldhurst, a village and a parish in Tunbridge district, Kent. The village stands 2-1/2 miles west-north-west of Tunbridge Wells rail station. The parish includes Langton and Lower Green hamlets, Rusthall manor, and part of Tunbridge Wells town. Post town, Tunbridge Wells. Acres, 3,947. Real property in 1860, £24,883. Population in 1851, 2,839; in 1861, 3,598. Houses, 665. The property is much subdivided.

The manor belongs to C. Powell, Esq.. There are several mansions and neat villas.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value £303 with a habitable glebe house. Patron, the Rev. J. J. Saint. The church is modern. The perpetual curacies of Rusthall and Groombridge are separate benefices.

There are national schools, and charities of £23.

Groombridge, a village and a chapelry in Speldhurst parish, Kent. The village stands near a junction of railways, 4 miles west-south-west of Tunbridge Wells; and has a large rail station of 1865, a post office under Tunbridge Wells, an inn, and fairs on 17 May and 27 September. The chapelry had, in 1851, a population of 180.

The manor belonged anciently to the Cobhams; descended from them to the Wallers; and has since passed through various hands. Groombridge Place, the ancient manorhouse, now the seat of the Rev. J. J. Saint, is encompassed by a wide, deep moat; was, for 25 years, the prison of the Duke of Orleans, taken by Sir Richard Waller at the battle of Agincourt; is said to have been rebuilt by the duke during his retention in it; and contains some fine carved oak paneling, with the arms of Sir R. Waller. Burrís Wood is the seat of Sir Walter G. Stirling, Bart..

The living is a donative in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, not reported. Patron, the Rev. J. J. Saint. The church is a small edifice, with bell turret. There is a national school.

Langton, a hamlet in Speldhurst parish, Kent; 1-1/2 miles south-by-west of Speldhurst village. It has a post office, of the name of Langton Green, under Tunbridge Wells; and contains several gentlemenís seats and neat villas; it ranks as a chapelry, annexed to the rectory of Speldhurst, in the diocese of Canterbury; and it has a church, built in 1864, containing then only 160 sittings, but constructed on a design to be enlarged into a handsome cruciform edifice.

The manor belonged formerly to a family of its own name. Rusthall House is the seat of Sir J. A. Musgrove, Bart.; Rusthall Lodge, of J. Bowman, Esq.; Dornden, of J. Field, Esq.; and Hollybank, of Mrs. Currie. Rushthall Common is an extensive open waste, studded with massive singularly shaped rocks; and one of these, called the Toad Rock, is a remarkable logan-like cluster, and commands a striking view.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, not reported. Patron, the Rector of Speldhurst. The church is cruciform, and has a massive central tower.